Volunteers To Be Used Despite Liability Issue

August 15, 1986|By LORI CROUCH, Education Writer

Palm Beach County schools will continue to use parents to transport students and equipment despite an opinion from the state Attorney General advising that volunteers might not be protected from liability as representatives of the school district, said Schools Superintendent Tom Mills Thursday.

Under Florida law, agents or employees of local governments enjoy sovereign immunity from liability, unless proven to be acting maliciously or in bad faith. The question is whether volunteers qualify as agents of the school system.

Mills will recommend that the School Board create a policy making volunteers ``agents`` of the school system to circumvent any liability problem, he said.

The problem with Attorney General Jim Smith`s office issuing a non-binding opinion one way or the other is that no such case has entered the court system, Mills said.

``In the absense of law or policy, we`re going to take the chance,`` he said. ``I believe the courts would rule in our favor. Until such time as the court rules in a lawsuit, he (Smith) just doesn`t know.``

School administrators will make sure volunteers have proper insurance coverage for themselves, just in case, he said.

The district requested the opinion because it uses volunteers for transportation.

Mills also will recommend that the board work with other districts to change state law to ensure volunteers are covered.

The School Board will consider on Wednesday the expulsion of a 16-year-old Atlantic High School student accused of participating in an auto theft from the Delray Beach high school and assaulting a woman at Carver Middle School, also in Delray Beach.

The student, not identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to charges in both incidents, according to school security.

The board also will consider using Urban League facilities for staff conferences in lieu of $30,222 the organization owes the School Board for using the district`s buildings and services during the Summer Youth Employment Program in 1984.

Mills said the district could benefit from the trade since it currently rents space from hotels for such meetings. The league`s usual rental rate would cost the district $42,175, he said.